


Holography Room For Two

by burglebezzlement



Category: Other Space (TV)
Genre: F/F, Holodeck Malfunction, Holodecks/Holosuites, Recreation, Regency Romance, Romance Novel RPG, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-16 00:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13042908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burglebezzlement/pseuds/burglebezzlement
Summary: Karen spends her recreation time alone. She doesn't need company, and she especially doesn't need the crew finding out about her terrible romance novel holos. But when the holography room decides to cast Tina as the Lord of Hawkscliffe Manor, things might end up changing.





	Holography Room For Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ViolentFlowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViolentFlowers/gifts).



The UMP-mandated weekly hour of recreation is the bane of Karen’s existence.

Karen does plenty of recreation activities. It’s just that UMP, short-sighted as always, doesn’t count planning battle simulations and preparing survival drills as recreation. UMP-approved recreation has to be with other people, fake or real, and involve an activity. A sport, or a holo-room program, or some other “activity.”

The weekly rec hour is insulting. It’s infantilizing. And Stewart won’t sign off on her skipping it, even though they’re in another universe and really, who’s going to know? If they get back ( _when_ they get back, she reminds herself), they’re going to be famous. Nobody from UMP is going to care if the captain let his second in command skip the weekly rec hour.

But apparently Stewart cares.

Karen shuts the door of the holography room behind her and punches in the code for one of the holo-simulations she used to play back at the Academy. The program takes a moment to load, and then another reality shimmers in around her, replacing the sounds of A.R.T. and Zalian arguing in the hallway with birds chirping in the trees, and replacing Karen’s UMP uniform with a long, flowing dress. A bonnet shimmers into existence on her head.

The program has nearly loaded when the holography room door opens.

“I’m in here!” Karen tries to cover up her dress. She has enough trouble with the crew without them realizing that she sometimes plays —

“Wow, is this a romance novel holo?” Tina comes in and shuts the door behind her. “Fun!”

As soon as the door clicks shut, Tina’s uniform shimmers, and the holo system replaces it with breeches, a brocade coat with a neck scarf, and a hat with a flashy feather.

“This is _my_ recreation time,” Karen snaps. “Get out.”

Tina steps back and stares at her. “What, really?”

“Really. I want to be alone.” _And I don’t want anyone judging my choice of holo-tainment._

“Fine.” Tina turns to find the doorknob, but the door doesn’t open.

“Cut the crap, Tina.”

“The door’s not there.”

Karen pushes past, ignoring the way her skirt brushes up against Tina, and tries to find the door. It’s really not there.

“Natasha? End program.” No response. “Natasha? Program override, damn it!”

Stewart’s head shimmers into existence in front of them. “Hello! I’ve overridden your ability to override the program.”

“Override override override,” Karen says desperately, but nothing happens.

“You’ve been so stressed lately,” Stewart continues. “I wanted to make sure that you had some time to yourself, so you could complete a full holo-program. Have fun!” He shimmers out for a moment, and then back in. “Also, this is a recording so you can’t argue with me.”

And then he’s gone. Karen wishes the holo version of Stewart was back. It might not be as entertaining to throttle as the real Stewart, but she can use her imagination.

“This should never have happened,” she says.

“Oh, come on, it might be fun!” Tina swishes her coat back and forth. “Do you play this one a lot?”

“Normally I play virtual squash, but Natasha’s too busy sucking digital face with Kent to play me.”

“So what happens next? Where’s the love interest?”

Karen groans. That’s what really hurts here. She’s spent years learning how to appeal to Lord Hawkscliffe, lord of the manor over on yonder hill, where her player character, a penniless governess, has been sent to teach his illegitimate child. She can win this thing if it’s Lord Hawkscliffe.

But this time around, it’s not Lord Hawkscliffe.

“You are,” she says. She sits down heavily on a holographic boulder. “You came in while the program was loading, so it assumed you were the second player.”

“So where do we go now?” Tina looks around. There’s a manor on the far hill, just emerging from a bank of misty clouds above a jewel-like lake. “Ooooooh, is that my castle?!”

“It’s Hawkscliffe Manor,” Karen says. “It’s obviously not a castle, we’re several hundred years too late for —” She gives up. “Come on. I’ll show you the way.”

* * *

Karen has done hundreds of speed runs on this holo program. She knows every single one of Lord Hawkscliffe’s weaknesses. Be nice to the housekeeper, be nice to the brat when he’s around, appeal to the Lord’s vanity and don’t flip out about the secret ex-wife — she’s got this one down to half an hour, tops, before Lord Hawkscliffe declares his undying love for her.

But now Lord Hawkscliffe is Tina, and Karen has no idea what to do.

Tina insists on exploring. They end up at the manor, but instead of meeting Lord Hawkscliffe and his brat, Karen gets swept on a tour. There are rooms here she’s never seen.

There’s an NPC cook she’s never met, who brings forth dainty pink-iced pastries that make Tina squeal. “Karen, you have to try these! Aren’t they cute?”

“Ugh. No. Holo-food always gives me indigestion.”

Tina squishes her nose up. “You’re no fun.” But she doesn’t leave Karen behind when she’s done with her holo-pastry. She drags her along, to explore the spooky graveyard behind the manor, the game keeper’s rough cottage, and the paths up into the hills overlooking the sparkling lake. 

There’s a barn, with horses and cows and chickens, and Tina tries chasing after one of the chickens and falls down into a holographic horse trough, which makes Karen laugh until Tina starts laughing, too.

They find the NPC game keeper eventually. He’s in another outbuilding, feeding game birds, whose holographic forms are soft and feathery under their hands. “Tha’ll want thy fishing,” he says. _Completely unauthentic dialogue to the period_ , Karen thinks, but Tina’s already nodding enthusiastically.

Karen didn’t even know that there was a fishing mini-game.

* * *

They’re sitting in the drawing room, drinking holo-tea and eating buttered holo-crumpets, when Stewart’s head pops up in the middle of the room, rising up from the fancy carpet.

“Emergency on the bridge! We need you guys up here right now!”

Stewart’s head pops out before Karen can yell at him. _You locked us in here, remember?_

“This is bad,” Karen says. She drops her head between her knees, which are still covered in a ridiculous weight of skirts and petticoats. “We can’t call Natasha, because she can’t override Stewart’s order, and Stewart’s not going to remember, because he’s panicking, and we don’t even know what the emergency is, and —”

“Calm down.” Tina takes Karen’s hand and pulls her up from the settee. “This is a romance holo.”

“And we’re still trapped in it!”

Tina smiles. “There’s always one way out of a romance holo.” And then she leans in.

Karen doesn’t process what happens at first, her senses overpowered by the feeling of Tina, right there, lips on hers — _Tina’s a lot better at kissing when she’s not sloppy-drunk_ , she thinks, and then realizes that she’s just standing there, like a dead fish, and her pride makes her wrap one arm around Tina’s shoulders, run the other down her back, kissing back and pushing into Tina’s mouth with her tongue.

 _Just to sell the kiss to the holo-program_ , she tells herself. Not because Tina’s an amazing kisser and Karen's knees have gone weak and she’s forgotten why they needed to do this in the first place. Why weren’t they doing this all along?

It takes them both a moment to realize that the door to the holography room has clicked open.

* * *

The emergency ends up being yet another spatial anomaly, which seems like a sign of a poorly-ordered universe to Karen. They get through the crisis, thanks to Zalien’s endless fudge stores and a bizarre suggestion from Stewart. 

Afterwards, Karen and Tina find themselves together in the rec room. Karen is running readiness checks and Tina is trying to coax something not strictly allowed under UMP regulations out of CoffeeBot. Pumpkin Spice has been illegal for decades, but Karen is pretty sure the Tina’s combination of Especia Masala Spice and Autumn Gourd seasonings comes pretty close to the original parameters of Pumpkin Spice’s forbidden, neurotoxic spice mix.

“That was fun,” Tina says, once she’s got her questionable latte.

Karen thinks about it and realizes — it actually was. “Yeah,” she says. “You’re not so terrible.”

“Thanks!” Tina takes a sip of her latte and smiles. “We should do that again sometime.”

“Uh… yeah.” It takes Karen a moment. She’s not used to someone wanting to spend Rec Hour with her. “I’d like that.”

“I’ve got some other romance holos,” Tina says. “And a few others. Higher-level stuff.”

 _There’s always one way out of a romance holo_ , Karen thinks, and blushes as she imagines of the two of them, pressed together in a sheikh’s tent or a frontier cabin, bodies moving together — “I’m in,” she says.

“Good.” Tina smiles brightly, and then leans forward to kiss Karen. Her lips are soft and taste like Pumpkin Spice. 

“Next week,” Tina says, and she turns to leave.

Karen watches Tina go, and then brings up her chronometer. Her next weekly rec session can’t come soon enough.


End file.
